These Lamson tubes are a hidden treasure of the Museum of Australian Democracy.
They are located throughout Old Parliament House, but most are concealed in ceiling and wall cavities.
Some of the tubes can be seen in the downstairs gallery at the location of the old post office and in the Attendant's Booth in the House of Representative's Chamber.
Tube much information
A Lamson tube is a pneumatic tube used to propel carriers which are placed in the 'sending end' of a tube and are transmitted to the receiving terminal.
Early tubes were made of brass, but modern ones are made of perspex.
Early carriers were made from steel with felt ends and a leather accelerator, whilst modern carriers are perspex with a rubber accelerator.
Originally, money was placed into carriers for movement along the tube, but later papers and other items were transported.
The Lamson tube was named after its inventor, William Stickney Lamson, a shop owner. He decided that there had to be a more cost effective method of handling a customer's money during a sale.
'The latest technology'
During March 1923, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works held a number of sessions to gather information relating to the building of a provisional Parliament House in Canberra.
The Minister for Home and Territories, George Pearce, drew attention to the Congressional Library in Washington and thought that a similar system should be included in Canberra.
When it opened in 1897, the US Library of Congress was described as having a 'bold use of the latest technology', which included pneumatic tubes.
Part of a grand design
Minister Pearce also wanted the Government Printing Office to be near to, but separate from, Parliament House with a pneumatic tube connecting the two. As we now know, the government printers ended up in Kingston.
The Director-General of Works and Railways, Percy Owen, also had very specific ideas about the location of the General Post Office in the Secretariat Building, now known as East Block, with the pneumatic tube system to be used to connect the two buildings and the network within Parliament House.
Following the Standing Committee's deliberations, it was decided that pneumatic tubes should be incorporated into the design of the provisional Parliament House.
Thus, documents could be sent around the building itself, or from Parliament House to the General Post Office in the Secretariat Building, or from Parliament House to the Government Printing Office in Kingston...and back again.
Michael Evans, Manager of Visitor Experience and Content Development at the Museum of Australian Democracy, joined Louise Maher on 666 Drive to discuss this intriguing early version of "information technology".
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